Joe Pugh

Nanaimo’s night market continued to grow this year, according to its organizer. Midcoast Morning visited the market ahead of the final 2025 edition Thursday night. Plus, the Picnic in The Plaza aims to bring the community together downtown on Sunday. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month.

Midcoast Morning hears about events in Nanaimo and Parksville to mark International Overdose Awareness Day. Plus VIU instructor Sarah Lovegrove, Vice President of the Harm Reduction Nurses Association speaks about the day in the context of a backlash against harm reduction.  Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month. Photo: Sarah Lovegrove speaks at the 2024 International Overdose Awareness Day. By Joe Pugh.

A new BMX pump track is coming to Cedar, funded by the Stevie Smith Legacy Foundation. Midcoast Morning speaks with Foundation founder Michelle Corfield. This weekend on Saturday, Primary Skateboards is hosting it’s third annual block party on Victoria Crescent in Downtown Nanaimo, Midcoast Morning speaks with co-owner Jordan Pletz and longtime skateboarder Rigo Gonzalez. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month. Podcast Cover Photo: Skater gets some air at the 2023 Primary Skateboards Blockparty. Photo provided by Mick Sweetman.

Adam Olsen wrote in The Tyee this week that this month’s BC Supreme Court ruling that recognized Cowichan title to a section of lands south of the Fraser River was “part of a legal trajectory the Crown has been warned about for decades.” Olsen joined Midcoast Morning to share his perspective on the case.

With wildfires bringing smoke to the region, Midcoast Morning spoke with researchers about what we know about its health impacts, and heard about a community based research initiative aiming to help people use DIY tools to improve air quality during wildfires . Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month. Mount Underwood wildfire photo by BC Wildfire Service. (Fair Dealing)

Transit workers in the Cowichan Valley have been on strike since Febraury 8th. Last week workers voted against going to binding arbitration to settle the dispute with contractor Transdev. Midcoast Morning speaks with a Unifor representative, as well as the Mayor of Lake Cowichan, and a case worker with the Cowichan Brain Injury Society. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month. Transit bus photo by Matthew Dunlop. (Fair Dealing)

The BC Green party is getting set to choose a new leader. Three candidates are in the race to replace Sonia Furstenau. Voting will happen in September. To be eligible to vote in the contest a person needs to be a member of the party ahead of a deadline Sunday August 10. Midcoast Morning speaks with each of the candidates in the race. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month.

Nanaimo City Council is calling on BC Housing to contemplate sober housing for those who qualify for supportive housing and who are in recovery. Council also wants to see a sober housing model used for a planned site at 250 Terminal avenue. Midcoast Morning speaks with B.C.’s new Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Christine Boyle, as well as Francesca Plewes, a person in recovery who now manages a Nanaimo supportive housing site. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month.

Months after Tod Maffin’s Nanaimo Infusion garnered the city international attention, stories of healthcare workers moving here continue to circulate. The Nanaimo infusion was an event in April that attracted hundreds of visitors from the United States come to the city. It started when Nanaimo resident Tod Maffin mused about the idea in a TikTok that went viral. Since then, Maffin has created a website called Tod’s Healthcare infusion, which provides information for people considering moving to the area to work in the healthcare system. He also has a discord server online where people interested in the idea can ask questions to members of the community. Among the members of the chat are island health recruiters and an immigration consultant. Maffin has shared stories on social media of people who say they discovered Nanaimo through the infusion and have found work in the area. Midcoast Morning checks in on the “healthcare infusion”.

Nanaimo has met its provincial housing targets this year, but it didn’t add a single unit of affordable housing. There were 875 units issued occupancy permits issued in the last year in Nanaimo. Just over 100 supportive housing units also came online through the provincial HEART & HEARTH program. The vast majority of new housing in Nanaimo is rental housing, with a relatively balanced mix of one, two, and three or more bedroom units. The vacancy rate has risen in the past few years, currently estimated at 2.9 per cent, approaching the 3 per cent level city staff suggest is needed to help create a healthy rental market. Provincial legislation in 2023 created housing targets for municipalities. City staff presented a report sharing Nanaimo’s progress towards meeting those targets at a council meeting this past Monday. Lisa Brinkman, Manager of Community Planning with the City of Nanaimo, spoke with Midcoast Morning about the year in housing. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month.

The future of a drop-in centre and overnight shelter in the south end was the subject of extensive discussion at a pair of council and committee meetings this past week. The Hub is a facility on Nicol Street and Victoria Road that offers daytime services for people experiencing homelessness run by Island Crisis Care Society, and an evening shelter run by the Nanaimo Family Life Association. Between a Finance and Audit Committee Meeting and a Regular Council Meeting, council heard from more than ten community members about the impacts they feel the service has had on their neighbourhood. Council ultimately voted to extend funding for the site through the end of next winter. Nanaimo City Councillor and south end resident Erin Hemmens spoke with Midcoast Morning about the issue. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month.

Qualicum Beach has a plan to acquire tens of acres of green space without raising taxes. The town has reached an agreement to buy the Eaglecrest golf course for $8.5 million. The goal is to cover the purchase price by selling about ten per cent of the newly acquired lands, which would then be developed into housing. It’s anticipated there will be around 40 acres of new parkland, with a 9 hole golf course continuing to operate. The deal is subject to due diligence and public consultation. The town’s director of planning and community development speaks with Midcoast Morning about the plan. Support Midcoast Morning and our Nonprofit Newsroom with a monthly sustaining donation of $5 to $10 a month.

The BC Government wants to hear your input on how to improve our democracy. The province’s special committee on democratic and electoral reform is accepting written submissions from members of the public with something to say about democratic engagement, voter participation and models for electing MLAs. CHLY speaks with Nanaimo-Lantzville MLA and committee member George Anderson. Two West Vancouver twins plan on speaking with the committee and calling on the voting age to be lowered to 16. They speak with Midcoast Morning about the issue.

A visit from the city’s namesake ship helped people in Nanaimo mark Canada Day Tuesday. Large crowds gathered to take in the sunshine in Maffeo Sutton park, where local musicians performed,  community groups showed off their work,  and a bevy of food trucks saw their services in high demand. Midcoast Morning brings you sounds from the event, including an interview with the CO of HMCS Nanaimo.

Nanaimo is looking to ban the sale of invasive plant species at shops in town. This Monday at a governance and priorities committee meeting councillors voted in support of a plan to ask staff to draft a bylaw banning the sale of invasives. A number of species including English Ivy, Himalayan Blackberry, Scotch Broom, and Daphne were listed in a staff report as impacting the city’s parks and natural areas. CHLY' reporter Lauryn MacKenzie speaks with ecological consultant Hunter Jarratt about invasive species in Nanaimo. Midcoast Morning also hears from Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, who responded to recent comments from Nanaimo City Council that followed a letter in which the minister declined a request to meet and discuss funding for daytime shelter spaces.

Nanaimo is debating how much new developments should have to pay to support community infrastructure. The city is looking at updating its Development Cost Charge (DCC) bylaw for the first time in seven years, and creating an Amenity Cost Charge (ACC) bylaw. Midcoast Morning breaks down what DCCs are, what the timelines are for changes to the bylaws, and what the province and members of the development community have to say about potential updates to DCCs.

A group promoting local food took to Nanaimo City Council Monday,  The folks behind the Nanaimo Food Hub are looking to boost awareness of the project, and lay the foundations for future growth. Founded two years ago, the hub has a vision of connecting people to locally grown food. They’re getting ready to start a second season of Friday markets at the Nanaimo Montessori School. Midcoast Morning spoke with co-founder Tina Fabbro

Nanaimo is asking for voters' permission to sell an acre of parkland to pave the way for a road to a planned subdivision. At a meeting Monday, Nanaimo city council approved a plan that would ultimately see the north edge of Elaine Hamilton Park in the city’s south end become a road that would serve as the main entryway to a residential development, one of six sections of the Sandstone Project. A washroom at the park would need to be demolished, with the developer building a new facility on a different part of the park. After initially voting against an running an AAP, council reconsidered and voted 6-3 in favour of the process, with councillors Paul Manly, Tyler Brown, and Ben Geselbracht opposed. Midcoast Morning brings you coverage of the meeting, and speaks with the developer behind the project.

Midcoast Morning speaks with Gordon Robinson of the Coastal Fire Centre in Parksville to assess wildfire risks on Vancouver Island. The program also speaks with Steve Mjaaland of Mosaic, who manage nearly 1.5 million acres of private land on southeastern Vancouver Island.

Dinosaurs of BC, a traveling exhibition from the Royal British Columbia Museum, is making its way to Nanaimo for the summer. Midcoast Morning speaks with paleontologist Victoria Arbour about the kinds of fossils around what’s now B.C, and what the mass extinction event at the end of the cretaceous period 66 million years ago was like.